In October 1934, the Central Red Army was defeated in the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression operation, and in order to preserve the revolutionary vitality, in accordance with the relevant instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission of the Central Revolution, the main force of the Red Army was forced to carry out a strategic shift.
In this way, the mighty 25,000-mile long march began from here!
At that time, in addition to the 16,000 people who stayed in the Soviet area, the main force of the Red Army 86,000 people participated in the Long March, and fought more than 600 battles on the way, and the three main forces of the Red Army finally joined forces in Huining, Gansu Province in October 1936.
So, when the three main forces of the Red Army (the First, Second, and Fourth Fronts) arrived in northern Shaanxi, how many men and horses were left in the Central Red Army?
First of all, let's talk about the First Front Army of the Central Red Army, because it was the unit that carried out the Long March from the Central Soviet District, and it was the Red Army unit with the longest Long March time and spanning distance.
It is recorded in the relevant documents that the number of the Red Army when it arrived at Hadapu was more than 14,000, while the Wuqi County Chronicle recorded that the number of Red Army arrivals was more than 6,000.
In the Battle of Xiangjiang, the Central Red Army suffered heavy losses, and the battle was reduced to 30,000 men; In the Battle of Tucheng, the Central Red Army lost more than 4,000 people; The Battle of Zunyi lost more than 3,000 people; In the Battle of the Four Crossings of Chishui, the Red Army annihilated more than 18,000 Kuomintang troops, but the Red Army also lost more than 10,000 men.
At that time, the Red Front Army lasted more than a year, and under the condition of completing the 25,000-mile Long March, it destroyed 30,000 enemies, while its own combat and non-combat attrition exceeded 90,000, which is enough to show the tragedy of the Long March.
In fact, when the Central Red Army's Long March arrived in northern Shaanxi, it also included more than 2,000 people from the Red Fourth Front Army (the Red 25th Army was originally subordinate to the Fourth Front Army and was later reorganized into the First Front Army), and the Central Red Army may be more than 7,000 people.
Then, in August 1936, the General Staff of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission telegraphed the strength of the army to the Comintern.
In this telegram, it reads as follows:
There were about 8,000 people in the 1st Army Corps of the Red Army, about 6,000 in the 15th Army Corps, more than 7,300 troops directly under the Red Army, more than 6,000 local troops, and more than 2,000 people in the Red 74th Division in southern Shaanxi, totaling 30,000 people.
Then, that is to say, after the Long March of the Red First Army, the main force of the Red Army (Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment) arrived in northern Shaanxi with more than 7,000 troops, mainly depending on the direct units of the Red First Army, and other troops were either reorganized or supplied halfway.
Therefore, when the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, the scale of more than 7,000 people was still credible!
At the same time, even if the Central Red Army was attrition in battle, new recruits would continue to join along the way, and the proportion of the old Red Army starting from Jiangxi gradually decreased.
Therefore, the original Central Red Army did not reach more than 7,000 people in northern Shaanxi, but the number of those who set out from Ruijin and other places and insisted all the way to northern Shaanxi would not exceed 4,000 at all.
Later, with the Red 15th Army being incorporated into the First Front Army of the Red Army, the strength of the Central Red Army also reached more than 10,000 people.
In October 1936, the Red Second and Red Fourth Front armies also arrived in northern Shaanxi.
However, since the Red Second Front Army would also inevitably suffer losses in Gannan, the number of troops when it arrived in northern Shaanxi was about 11,000.
Then, there is the Red Fourth Front Army, which has 3 armies under its jurisdiction, and the number of people when they first arrived in northern Shaanxi is about 38,100 people, plus more than 4,600 people in the team directly under the headquarters.
Of course, if we calculate from the starting point of the Long March without replenishing troops, the main force of the Central Red Army will be more than 7,000 when it arrives in northern Shaanxi, and the Red Second and Fourth Front armies will be 52,000 when they arrive in northern Shaanxi.
To put it simply, after the victory of the Long March, the original strength of the three main forces of the Red Army in Huining was about 60,000 (if they were all in northern Shaanxi, the Red Fourth Front Army would lose another 21,000 people), plus other troops, the total number of the Red Army was about 80,000!